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Boldly Going Nowhere
Bret Burquest is a former award-winning columnist for The News (2001-2007) and author of four novels. He has lived in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Kansas City, Memphis and the middle of the Arizona desert. After a life of blood, sweat and tears in big cities, he has finally found peace in northern Arkansas where he grows tomatoes, watches sunsets and occasionally shares the Secrets of the Universe (and beyond) with the rest of the world.
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Armadillo Antics
Posted Saturday, October 5, 2019, at 6:25 PMThere's a tool shed in my backyard about the size and shape of a typical outhouse. We no longer have use for the outhouse around here, typical or otherwise, since we discovered the miracle of indoor plumbing. Under the tool shed lives an armadillo. His name is Armando... -
Junk and Luxury
Posted Thursday, September 12, 2019, at 6:51 PM1One of the fastest ways to fail in life is to work so hard your manager will think you're after his job. In 1976, one year before our semi-blissful marriage of five years, my ex-wife and I went on a sailing adventure in the West Indies. We paid good money to be deckhands on a 248-foot, four-mast schooner, island-hopping the Leeward Islands of St. Martins, St. Barts, St Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis for two weeks... -
Left-Handed People
Posted Tuesday, August 27, 2019, at 6:49 PMAugust 13 is International Left-Handers Day. Approximately 10% to 12% of the people on Earth are left-handed and some 30 million of them live in the United States. The right half of the brain controls the left half of the body. Thus, left-handers are wired into the artistic half of the brain, which makes them imaginative, creative, ambiguous, exasperating, stubborn, emotional, obsessive and original... -
Silence of the Yams
Posted Sunday, August 11, 2019, at 6:23 PMMany philosophers believe that thoughts are deeds. If you project benevolent thoughts, you help create a benevolent environment. Projecting hostility creates hostility, etc. As we sow, so shall we reap. Cleve Backster, America's foremost lie-detector expert, hooked up a lie-detector to a plant about 40 years ago in an attempt to see how long it would take water to reach the leaves. ... -
Toad Suck and Monkey Run
Posted Tuesday, July 23, 2019, at 12:53 PMQUESTION: What do the following three lists have in common? LIST #1 – England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Jerusalem, Damascus, London, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Dallas, Houston, Hollywood, Delaware, Kentucky, Kansas, Washington, Northern Ohio... -
The Magic of Water
Posted Wednesday, July 3, 2019, at 1:54 PMThere is magic on Planet Earth -- it's called water. Water is a basic component of all living things on the planet. Two-thirds of the surface of earth is covered by water and the human body is made up of over 70 percent water. It's the essence of our being... -
A Message to Mankind
Posted Tuesday, June 4, 2019, at 12:11 PMThe small town of Elberton in northeast Georgia is known as the granite capital of the world. In June of 1979, a well-dressed, articulate man who identified himself as R.C. Christian walked into the Elberton Granite Finishing Company and ordered a monument to "transmit a message to mankind." He claimed to represent a small group from outside Georgia and wished to remain anonymous... -
The Lost Island
Posted Sunday, May 19, 2019, at 1:36 PMIn December of 1980, a number of U.S. military personnel, including airmen Jim Penniston and John Burroughs, were stationed at the Woodbridge Royal Air Force base in Britain. At the time, the installation was being used by the U.S. Air Force. On December 26, military personnel spotted strange lights in the Rendlesham Forest, just outside the base's boundary. ... -
Autistic Savant
Posted Sunday, April 21, 2019, at 9:33 AMDaniel Tammet was born in January of 1979 in London, England -- the oldest of nine children, he is an autistic savant When he was a baby, Daniel would constantly bang his head against the wall. His mother was deeply concerned and breastfed him for two years... -
Dogs and People
Posted Tuesday, April 2, 2019, at 2:24 PM“The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants.” Johnny Depp In July of 2014, a friend of mine in Canada sent me some information on an animal shelter in Roswell, New Mexico, where "the police have now taken over the animal shelter and every day at 8 am, they are randomly selecting 6 or 8 dogs to kill, because they can. Not because they are sick, or old, or anything… no criteria, puppies."... -
Famous Arkansans
Posted Sunday, March 24, 2019, at 10:24 AMArkansas is known as the Land of Opportunity. Many people from Arkansas have taken advantage of that opportunity on their way to fame and fortune. Entrepreneurs thrive in Arkansas. Sam Walton (1918-1992) began his retailing career in 1940 at a JC Penney store in Des Moines, Iowa... -
Named after Highest Bidder
Posted Tuesday, March 12, 2019, at 12:21 PMExcept for conceiving and raising them, one of the hardest things involved with bringing children into the world is agreeing on a name. For many years, Michael has been the most popular name in the USA for a boy. Lately, names like Cody, Wyatt and Dustin have been moving up the list in popularity... -
Hopi Prophecy
Posted Friday, March 1, 2019, at 12:49 PM1The Hopi are a Native American tribe who live on the Hopi Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona. They believe that humans on Mother Earth pass through great epochal cycles, called worlds, "Now we are at the very end of our trail. Many people no longer recognize the true path of the Great Spirit. ... -
Land of the Giants
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019, at 10:19 AMI lived in southern California in 1975-1987. One night I watched a local TV report about the remains of giants discovered on Catalina island (just off the coast of L.A.) in the late 19th century. They were 7 to 9 feet tall, with red hair and had a double set of teeth. Their skulls were up to 6 times larger than a normal human skull... -
The Y2K Bug
Posted Wednesday, February 6, 2019, at 2:48 PMI spent 8 months working on a computer programming contract in Memphis in 1999, leading up to the potential disaster known in the computer industry as Y2K. There were lots of rumors about what might happen if the problem couldn’t be resolved. Some of the myths included:... -
Groundhog Day
Posted Thursday, January 31, 2019, at 6:25 PMFebruary 2 is Groundhog Day. In Punxsutawney, Penn., grown men and women congregate outside of a rodent burrow on this day and wait patiently for a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil to emerge. Apparently, the people in Punxsutawney don’t have much of a life... -
The Ice Beast
Posted Tuesday, January 8, 2019, at 12:25 PM2January 2019 is the 10th anniversary of the ice storm of January 2009 which caused much damage and distress to those of us who live in north central Arkansas -- the following is a newspaper column I wrote back then, once I finally had electricity restored... -
HOLLYWOODLAND
Posted Tuesday, January 1, 2019, at 6:40 PMIn 1923, a land syndicate created a new housing development on the Hollywood hillside of the Santa Monica Mountains. In an attempt to flaunt their new development, they contracted the Crescent Sign Company to erect a large HOLLYWOODLAND sign on Mount Lee, which is also part of Griffith Park... -
Moose on the Loose
Posted Wednesday, December 26, 2018, at 12:07 PMThe summer I was in sixth grade, my family went on a camping trip to Yellowstone Park. We pitched our tents in the most remote official campsite, along a stream in the northeast corner of the park. After breakfast one morning, the four of us embarked on a hike, mostly uphill along the stream, to a huge meadow where we were going to fly fish for trout... -
Christmas at Age Five
Posted Monday, December 10, 2018, at 10:30 AMWhen I was about five years old, I was excited to learn that Santa Claus was going to appear at my house early on Christmas Eve to personally hand Christmas gifts to my little brother and me. My parents explained that Santa was doing this as a special treat for us since we didn't have a chimney...
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